Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 1:3

"Thine oils have a goodly fragrance; Thy name is [as] oil poured forth; Therefore do the virgins love thee." — Song Of Solomon 1:3 (ASV)

Because of the fragrance. —The general sense of this verse is clear, though grammatical difficulties make the literal translation doubtful. It should be divided into three clauses, not into two only, as in the Authorized Version: “Because of their odor (or, with regard to their fragrance) your ointments (are) sweet.” There is no authority for taking riach = sense of smell, or we would naturally translate, “to the smell your ointments are sweet.” The rendering of the next clause, “your name is (like) oil poured forth,” is to be preferred, though it necessitates making either shemen = oil, or shem = name, feminine, for which there is no example, since the alternative, which takes tûrak = poured forth, as second person masculine instead of third person feminine, is harsh: “You are poured forth like oil with regard to your name.” The image is an obvious one . There is a play on words in shemen and shemka.

Virgins.—Heb., alamôth; young girls. (See Note, Song of Solomon 6:8.) Those who understand Solomon to be the object of the desire expressed in these verses understand alamôth to mean “the ladies of the harem.” In the original, these three verses clearly form a stanza of five lines.